What's compelling about your life?
This week I found myself thinking about the Apple commercial that Steve Jobs narrated many years ago. If you're an Apple fan boy, you surely remember it. Here's the narrative. "Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world - are the ones who do!
This commercial raises a pivotal question. What's compelling about your life? Steve Jobs wanted us to believe that Apple technology separates history's great ones from history's ordinary ones. Obviously, none of the people featured in this commercial used Apple products! And this commercial aired before Apple launched all the products it's known for today.
But what's compelling about your life? Advertisers would have us believe that the most compelling aspect of our lives is what we consume. But when has anyone ever been considered great by virtue of what they consume?
I've been watching the "X-Factor" and "The Voice". They are always pumping these contestants for a storyline. "Tell us something crazy about your life." I've never heard any of them say, "I drive brand X car, use brand X phone, or wear brand X clothing." Most of the contestants simply shrug their shoulders. Others tell a sad story. "I grew up in X neighborhood, in X small town, work at X go-no-where-job, and have X circumstances."
If someone asked what was compelling about your life, how would you answer? What makes you a misfit, a rebel of the status quo, or a round peg in square hole? What un-ignorable, history altering, quotable, transformative thing defines your life?
I'll give you a hint. What you consume doesn't make you a compelling person. No one ever said, "Wow, it's my phone, my Wrangler jeans, my Gucci purse, the beer I drink, and my Chevy that defines me!" What defines us isn't what we consume. It's who or what consumes us.
In the Bible there is this pivotal little three-letter word. That word is you. Whatever falls before this word is what makes us predictable and ordinary. Whatever comes after this word is what sets us apart and what makes our lives un-ignorable. Consider 1 Peter 2:8 which says of those who reject Christ, and do not believe. "They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do."
Disobedience and unbelief doesn't make your life compelling. If anything, sin makes your life ordinary, boring, and predictable. The reason the Church is so ordinary, boring, and predictable today is because there is so much unbelief and disobedience.
But then we come to our pivotal word in 1 Peter 2:9 (ESV). "But you..." Actually, in the Greek this verse doesn't say you, but it says, you all. There is something uncompelling about those who stumble. But there is something undeniably compelling about all of you, the Church! What might that be? There are three things that are compelling about the Church that help us understand why the Church matters.
We have a more compelling identity.
In 1 Peter 2:9 (ESV) Peter says, "But you (all) are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession..." You all aren't just some ordinary bunch!
A few of us thought long and about this verse, and how best to capture its meaning. So here we go. How many of you had a Mr. Potato Head as a kid? How many of you still have a Mr. Potato Head? Here's the thing with Mr. Potato Head. You can give him thick brown eye brows, a Tom Selic mustache, Donald Trump hair, big red juicy lips, a fancy suit and bowtie, a brief case, a sports car, and a phone. You can accessorize him all day long. But at the end of day, underneath it all, Mr. Potato Head is still just a potato.
And that my friends, is our problem. Despite all we do to fashion a unique identity, to distinguish ourselves, and to glitz up our otherwise plain lives, underneath it all we're all still just a bunch of potatoes. By the way, there is a book on Amazon that has an awesome title! The title is, "When Did I Stop Being Barbie and Become Mrs. Potato Head?" I love it!
Well, according to this verse we're not a potato patch. First, we are a chosen race, a chosen generation of people, chosen by God and for God out of all the peoples on the earth to be a part of something extraordinary. Who cares what Simon says? God says yes, you are getting through. You are his top choice.
We are a royal priesthood. As the Church, we are privileged by virtue of Christ's blood to approach God, the holy one. We are privileged to call upon God's name, to be considered his sons and daughters, his children. We are privileged to be able to serve God without fear. We have access to God through his Spirit, 24/7. We can go directly to God in prayer anytime we want. We have his ear and his heart.
We, the Church, are a holy nation. We are the ones who display the very character of God. We are a picture of who God is like. Look at all the people who declare, "God is great!", but then kill women and children in a mall. There is only one who has been a murderer from the beginning, and it's not God. Why do we all matter? The world sees the true image of God, both in the face of Christ, but also in the character of the Church.
We are God's very own possession. We've been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. To the world we are just a bunch of potatoes, and you know what the world does with potatoes. They fry them. They bake them. They twice bake them. They launch them into the sky with potato canons. But to God, we're not just potatoes.
1 Peter 1:18-19 (ESV) reminds us, "...you all were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." We have a compelling identity, and it's not what we consume. Rather, it's who consumes us!
We have a more compelling storyline.
1 Peter 2:9-10 (ESV), "...that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
Think about how much stuff gets posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. This week I posted a picture of a bacon sandwich I ate in St. Louis. I posted a Photoshop Chicago Cubs makeover I did of an obnoxious Cardinals' fan who was sporting a bright red Bible cover last Sunday. But you know, we get the internet and broadcast all sorts of stuff. Oh, here's a pic of kitten getting rescued by a burly fireman!
What Peter reminds us is that we have an infinitely more compelling story to proclaim! We get to proclaim the excellencies of a God who called us out of darkness into light. Once we were a bunch of nobodies, but now we are the people of God. Once we were objects of God's wrath, but now we're objects of God's grace and mercy.
What's compelling about our lives is not what we're doing at any given moment of day. "I am eating a bacon sandwich! I'm taking another bite. Look, I'm still eating. Now I'm washing it down with a strawberry shake." What's infinitely more compelling is what God has been doing from the foundations of earth through Christ Jesus!
When we take communion, we proclaim the excellencies of God. We proclaim that Christ broke his body and shed his precious blood to offer us forgiveness from sin.
When we get baptized, we proclaim the excellencies of God. We proclaim that Christ died, that he was buried in a grave, and was raised on the third day by the Spirit of God. And that just as Christ was raised to new life, so we too can be raised to new life. "And what about me? Oh yeah, I die. I'm buried in the waters of baptism. My old self is no more. And what about the life I live? I live for the glory of God."
One of my favorite movies is "Saving Private Ryan." In the movie, a WWII soldier's life is not defined by what he achieved in the heat of battle, but by the ultimate sacrifice so many men made in order to save his life. They paid a price on his behalf that was so great, he could never repay it. That's us. Our story is that God did something so extraordinary, so amazing, and so excellent that it surpasses anything any of us could ever do in return. God's story empties us of pride so that what is most compelling isn't the story we create for ourselves, but that we get to become part of God's story. In God's story, God is the hero and we are the rescued ones.
We have a more compelling life.
1 Peter 2:11-12 (ESV) says, "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation."
When I read these words, I think back to the words of Steve Jobs. Do we really think we'll change the world by consuming one product versus another? These verses reminds us that what we consume can be a very dangerous thing, and can eventually destroy even our souls. Look how many mass shootings are being linked to violent video games. Look how much mental illness is being linked to the social isolation brought on by technology. Look how pot is celebrated as this great thing for society, yet leaves people unable to emotionally cope with pain, the responsibility of parenting, and work. The sexual revolution was supposed to be great too, but now cancer rates are skyrocketing.
If you're going to abstain from the passions of your flesh, people are going to pretty much call you an idiot. Deal with it. But seriously, deal with it.
These verses also remind us that there are unpopular things we're called to do that may not make any sense until the day God visits us. Vindication doesn't always come in this life, but only later on, when Christ returns. In this life the fools seem wise and the wise seem like fools. But friends, we are to be fools for Christ.
In this life, people may very well laugh at us, mock us, ridicule us, and even speak against us as evildoers. But our goal is that some people might see our good deeds and glorify God on the day he returns. In other words, we live knowing that every single thing we do matters for eternity. Every single thing we do has the potential to change the destiny of another human being. Think about it! A person's destiny might have been unbelief and disobedience. Their destiny might have been to remain nobodies and objects of wrath. But like you and me, they can become part of God's story!
What if Steve Jobs was really longing to be part of the Church, but didn't realize it? What I hear Peter saying is this. "Church. You all are the crazy ones. You all who believe God and obey God are the crazy ones. You all are the round pegs, the rebels, the aliens and strangers, the misfits, and the troublemakers. You are the ones who push the human race forward, who see things differently, who have no respect for the status quo, and who aren't fond of rules. You aren't fond of rules? What? That's right! Don't you know that we've been set free by God's grace, not by obeying the law? And misfits and troublemakers? That's right! In this life we all will be spoken against as evildoers and troublemakers. But that's what so compelling about you all. You all are the Church. People might vilify you, disagree with you, and might quote you. But they won't be able to ignore you. And who knows, perhaps in the end, they glorify God? God chose us to be his instruments to change things. So won't you be part of greatest movement in history?"